Week 4

This was a weird week to say the least! It has all been going around about having Homeschool Spirit Week and sadly my kids just really wasn't all that into it. Having pajama day was no big deal because they do that all the time anyway! When I tried to talk them into mismatched clothes you would have thought their father was speaking through them, and the look I got! Well it just wasn't happening! The one thing they were pretty excited about was coloring their hair. I really don't wanna get all chemical with them so I looked into using Kool-Aid but everyone said it won't show on dark hair. That pretty much says it won't work on Fox. So it is Halloween time I figured the spray color. What a waste.

There was barely enough in the cans to do their hair and it was pretty much gone that afternoon. I did snap a few pics though. Damian was not happy at all. He had picked white and it didn't show on his hair any. So I mixed the blue and pink to get a purple and well, he just wasn't very happy with me.

I am pretty certain that out of all 3 Foxs looked the best. Though it was gone by that afternoon. I really remember that spray stuff working better when I was young.

They also decided this week to be archaeologists or something with the cows yard. Our back yard is full of cows. They decided to go see what they were up too and ran home to tell me of all the bones they found EWWWWWWW.

Fox said he was quite happy wioth his bone armor and Skyler said she is working her arms to fight the good fight alongside her brother. No, I have no idea where they get this stuff from. I had imagination but WOW! Fox also informed me that many indian tribes used bone in times of battles. I think he has watched way too much 500 Nations.

On Monday we just finished up Naya Nuki. They were pretty thrilled to hear she made it back to her family. On Tuesday we did Massachusetts and that was it! They enjoyed that. I think they enjoyed the Boston Cream Pie more though. Fox has been telling me over and over One if by land and two if by sea. Yes they all enjoyed Paul and his midnight ride.

They also liked their lunch of beef jerky, dried fruits and peanuts. Damian is so not the photogenic child anymore.

Onto Wednesday. We did candy school and artist study. They used all the Hershey math books and studied John Trumbull. Most of the math activities was review but they had a blast anyway. Skyler is completely thrown by fractions so I know once we get there she will need some help.

This is what 300 reese pieces looks like. That is what a candy starved child looks like!!

This is Fox working on his version of The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill. That is my tongue! I so do this when I am concentrating. I noticed it and I had to have a picture of this. Sometimes I look at that boy and all I can see is his dad. He is so like him even though he looks like me. His mannerisms, his personality so much is just like his dad. That tongue though is all me!

The top left is Fox under that is Skyler and to the right is Damians. He refused to add color to his for whatever reason. I am still wondering why all the boys drew were stick figures but I guess since it is their art then I can't say much about it.

They also made a notebooking page. This belongs to Skyler.

On Thursday we did History and that was it. We reviewed the explorers we have studied so far and added them to the timeline books they have. All the kids have Winterpromise timeline books because I think they are that awesome! After that they spent the rest of the day coloring and cutting their indian homes.

This is Damians pueblos.

Foxs hogan

Skylers wikki up

That was our week pretty much. We all also enjoyed watching our bunny chow on some fruit loops at my desk too.

For some unknown reason she is always trying to jump off of stuff. The bunny technically belongs to my oldest daughter Devlin but we keep her company during the day!

Don't forget to see our week 2 of Magic School

Wordless Wednesday

Week 3

The highlight of the week was Skyler starting book 6 of Explode The Code! GO SKYLER! She is doing so well with reading. I am so pleased with her! She is learning to round to the tens in math and is struggling a bit. We just keep working on it as long as it takes though.

No point in moving on when she hasn't yet grasped it! I also had to do about 100 reminders for their glasses again. I have never seen children hate their glasses as much as mine do! It was a really hot week and they all argued over the daily bike ride.  I hate hate hate to be hot but the riding really helps them all calm down so I stuck with it.  The only thing that was really new this week was the grammar for Damian. It has not been a fun thing at all and we both dread doing it very much. Cost wise buying a new program is not possible at this time so I have been using this. He is doing much better with it and it's free so I can't complain much.  I also have come to realize they all need more practice with word problems in math. I usually take pictures of all the fun stuff but this week I took some of actual school work. You know, the boring stuff, math, grammar etc. If we could just do projects all week I would be much happier. If life was reading stories, making lapbooks and creative stuff I would be thrilled. Sadly I think I would go broke on paper and ink.

 

Here is Skyler with her grammar

 

Here is Fox doing some math practice. He thinks these dry erase mats are too baby for him. I think they save paper lol!

This is our evil cat Hush. He terrorizes all of us. This day he decided to nap in the Seamans chest Fox made for history. We don't dare move him. We all feel that we have enough battle scars from him.

 I of course had to throw in ecleast one thing they made lol. This is a 3-D map of the voyage Columbus made. It was fun learning he used a quadrant when we made one last week! Fox asked how anyone ever got anywhere when they all thought they were over in Asia all that time! They are still reading Naya Nuki for History and really liking it. They really want that girl to get home. We will finish that book off this next week.

 

 

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Homeschool Spirit Week!

                                                                                                                  

Currclick on Facebook

We will so be doing some stuff!!                                                                            

Week 2

The week started out a bit better than the last week, until we got to Thursday that is. On Thursday it all fell apart and the kids wound up sitting at the table for most of the day doing nothing. We did start the state study part of All American by Winterpromise. This week was Maine. We also began using the chemistry in Real Science 4 Kids. The boys and Skyler are on different levels so that took some juggling. So far this school year I like pretty much everything I chose except the grammer. I am just not feeling it, especially Damians level.

This will most likely not go on past this year. I didn't start Winning With Writing yet so hopefully nextt week! We did get a tent that they were very excited to have. I have heard for 3 days that they want to sleep in it. I am so not the out doorsy sort so I am really not feeling that! I kept up making lunch every night for the next day and that went well. I also started giving them 20 minutes of bike riding every 2 hours or so. This is slightly helping to keep them calmer.

Here they are making covers for their state study notebooks.

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, we include God here!!

Skyler is learning observation skills.

Fox doing the Currclick online lego club.

We made a quandrant from the Homeschool In The Woods part of All American.

They really love the tent!!

Blueberry Muffins in honor of Maine

And just in case there are not enough pictures you can go here to see some more!!  Don't forget to check out our first week of Magic School.

Week 1

Needless to say the week did not go as planned at all. Math and grammer got done as well as history and alot of arguing. I have realized that so far I am not liking Easy Grammer at all. I didn't like First Language Lessons or Rod and Staff though so maybe it is just me. I still like Math U See and Winterpromise American History is still great in my opinion. We started reading Naya Nuki and that has been the only thing my younger son doesn't whine and complain about. Skyler is still chugging on with Explode The Code, she is almost done with Book 5.

Next week I will add in spelling, science and some handwriting practice. I have an issue with sloppy handwriting. I grew up in a Catholic school and those nuns were heartless about handwriting. Some people are grammer punks, for me it is all about writing. I feel like once I started public school I had to suffer with the majority of peoples handwriting. I know that is so wrong but it's me that is all I can say!

To make my days go smoother I have started making lunches the night before just like I used to when they were in public school. I will say that has helped so much. If they don't finish it then it goes back into the fridge for later if they get hungry. I don't like doing snack times anymore because they dwell on it and it drives me nuts! The thing I made this week that they liked the most was pizza cup cakes LOL!

I guess this is the part where I say I had fun making them right? OK so I did! It was something different and fun. I am now the proud owner of a cup cake pan too thanks to my mom. I guess she was tired of me borrowing hers!

I never take pictures of regular work as I call it, like math, grammer and all. I do take pics when they make something though! As with every other Winterpromise theme there are alot of projects and we did our fair share this week!

Here they are making a ptolemaic map. We also compared maps of today so they could see the differences. I don't know what I would do without this table! They really spread stuff out during school. They also did some sailors knots. The boys had already done this but other then Fox complaining it was still fun.

This is Skylers Captains Log

Of course the outside is pink!

Here is Foxs map of The First Peoples

I just love his coloring style! They also made Flags from the Christopher Columbus voyage to The New World. So they are learning about the people that were here before us and the Explorers that brought us here. I hope next week goes better. We were suppose to start Magic School today, but with the behavior and attitudes I have gotten this week they will be getting up for regular school in. Hopefully that will prove to them that the fun stuff only happens with good choices!

The Worse First Day Ever

    
This is our first day of school. It was suppose to be perfect. I had a schedule, I had plans and I even made their lunch the night before.

Peanut butter on apple slices like a sandwich, raisins, veggie crackers with cheese dip, a mozzerella stick and a chocolate frog. I picked the idea of having lunch all made from The Well Trained Mind. It was all suppose to go smooth as silk. The plans were great and having everything ready would save time.

Then I added the children and basically all Hell broke loose. Fox did nothing but complain, Skyler whined over every little thing and Damian belly ached over math. So needless to say it was the crappiest first day ever and I would like to crawl in a hole and sleep for the rest of the year. I think they think I am playing with them. The complaining, the whining, and the bickering must stop. It is too out of control. I warned them that they get to earn the fun stuff like games and TV. They are all pretty shocked that the stuff is not on now that we are done for the day. Well, except Damian, he is now working on finishing math.

 

We did start All American 1 for history and did grammer and math today so it wasn't a complete loss. It just took arguing and threatening to get there. The year will surely get better. I hope.